


i'll hold your music here inside my hands

by Ephemeral_Joy



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: F/M, Love, Romance, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, dream - Freeform, perfect harmony, the dance sequence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:54:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27662341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ephemeral_Joy/pseuds/Ephemeral_Joy
Summary: The Perfect Harmony sequence from Luke's perspective, with the additional knowledge of behind the scenes footage.
Relationships: Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 34
Kudos: 293





	i'll hold your music here inside my hands

**Author's Note:**

> one of my tumblr posts went rogue so here we are. i wrote this frantically and with Emotion - enjoy. 
> 
> edited | tumblr @lydias--stiles

‘I know you’re smiling!’, Luke yelled after her. ‘Kill it on the dance floor!’

His smile softened as he watched her retreating back pass around the corner. Oh man, it was so fun teasing her. It would’ve been even better if he tempted her enough to go to rehearsal, but he understood - school first, music second. The hierarchy boggled his mind, but if this was what kept Julie in the band - what kept her with _him_ \- then he was happy to let her do a little dance with that Nick guy. 

Nick. What was up with that guy? Way too cheery and slimy for his taste, and his flirting skills? _Yeesh_ . Luke definitely did a better job. He should try some lines out on Julie! Just as he went to run after her, he froze as he backtracked all his thoughts. Wow. He should not try his lines out on Julie. Cause that was weird, right? Then again, she did react well to that bit he did, impersonating Nick. She laughed at _his_ jokes, not at Nick’s. Yeah, he was definitely better than that beanstalk! 

He bit his lip. Better at dancing too, maybe? Nick did mention he got “worse” and Julie never got worse at anything. Besides, when Jules and him are onstage, he felt this undeniably shift between them, this magnetic tug that came straight from his stuttering heart every time he looked at her. Every time she smiled. Or sang. 

_I think we make each other better._ Luke couldn’t have worded it better. Ever since he began writing and workshopping with Julie, his songwriting skills have made major strides. His linguistic charm, her virtuosity - it was a perfect match. This perfect… he couldn’t explain it. Whatever. It proved his theory! Ha! He _was_ a better dancer than Nick and he _would_ dance amazingly with Julie and get a perfect grade! 

Luke wondered what it would be like. He has danced with a girl before - when he was still alive at a middle school dance and at house parties and just recently, at Caleb’s rotten club. But he knew it would be different with Julie. Everything always was. Whenever he was around her, he felt _alive_ again. In the beginning, he thought it was the adrenaline rush of a second chance at becoming rockstar legends, but the longer he spent around her, the more she sang with him - it all became very clear. Julie made him alive. 

So much so, that he sometimes wondered if he was able to just hold her hand if he tried hard enough. If they were too stubborn and stayed on earth after death, then why not? Because he knew that whatever he and Julie had, was _real_. That he didn’t imagine her hot breath on his when they shared a mic. That when she passed, he actually felt the tendrils of hair brushing his shoulder. He wasn’t air to her and he knew it. 

But to everyone else, he was. Which is why he couldn’t run after her. He was a ghost and that would _never_ change. It was hard enough having a crush on her from a distance, he didn’t know how he’d cope if he entertained the idea and then was let down by his own stupidity. (Maybe he shouldn’t even have come to her school in the first place.) 

Argh! Why did the afterlife have to be so hard?! 

Curiosity got the better of him though. He just needed to peek for, like, _one second_ and then he’d poof back to the boys to start rehearsal. Easy. He could do that. One glimpse and - boom! Done! He set off against the lockers and made his way to the gym. 

As his body warped and flickered by the sea of inconspicuous people walking through him, he lingered on that wonder from before. He imagined her in that black dress she’d been holding, and him wearing that ridiculous monkey suit Nick had on, and everyone else would wash away as he only had eyes for her. He’d impress her with some sick moves and he’d twirl her under his arm and hold her close and feel her pulse beating on her wrists. 

The soft hum of music caught his attention and turned to the left. It was starting. He quickened his pace, teeth grazing against his lower lip as a spark of jealousy festered in the back of his head. Was this really a good idea? He could turn around right now and not have to see it. He could save himself, protect himself.

(But did he want to? Wasn’t that the whole point of being with Julie? To stand on that edge of greatness and take that leap of faith and hope for the best? He was done protecting himself.)

Luke let the fear go and took a deep breath. Just as he was about to catch a glimpse, his sight blurred.

The burst of energy he felt was far greater than any tattoo Caleb would ever conjure. Blood pumped through his veins like golden liquid and surged him from outside the gym to a hazy world he didn’t recognise. 

And then he saw Julie. 

Julie, wide-eyed and all alone in this hazy new space, staring right back at him. He only had to bridge a few feet to be with her. Fondness and harmonious swirls of melodies flooded his senses, everything else deliciously empty as all he cared about was her. Nothing else mattered. And when he called her name, music came instead. 

(Maybe that was just the way the world worked. If no one was singing, was the world really turning?) 

_Step into my world_

A new gust of air hit his face and that hazy filter fell down. Julie wasn’t so far away anymore, he realised, and took another step forward. With her beautiful eyes trained on him, looking at him with awe, it felt like she put a spell on him.

_Bittersweet love story about a girl_

They were chest to chest, every pore and freckle and eyelash right in front of him. He tried to grab her hand, but he phased right through. 

_Shook me to the core  
_ _Voice like an angel  
_ _I've never heard before_

But then he didn’t. If there was any shred of confusion left, it fell away now. Luke knew he was gone the moment her warm hands intertwined with his. 

Her voice broke through.

_Here in front of me  
_ _Shining so much brighter than I have ever seen_

Julie held him close, Luke hugging her so tightly he almost wanted to stop and keep her in his embrace. She fit perfectly. 

_Life can be so mean  
_ _But when he goes, I know he doesn't leave_

She pushed him away with a teasing smile that only pulled him back once more. That tug in his chest, red-coloured thread, always guiding him towards her. In a whirl of movement and spins, Luke found her again with ease. He joined her in the song as he gazed up at her, mesmerised by her gleaming eyes. 

_The truth is finally breaking through  
_ _Two worlds collide when I'm with you  
_ _Our voices rise and soar so high_

In one swift motion, he picked Julie up and let her reach the sky, fingers grazing the infinite space above. Her hands fell down to his cheeks, enamoured, and he slowly placed her back down. 

_We come to life when we're-_

He inhaled deeply, overcome with the exhilarating realisation of _love_ , as his lips uttered the words to the beautiful Julie Molina. The words that have been on the tip of his tongue ever since he heard her sing.

_In perfect harmony_

Luke felt like he was looking at the sun and the moon and the stars all at once, her adoring gaze filling his chest with warmth and light. He loved her. He loved her. He loved her. And all she had to do was be here with him. 

_We say we're friends_

Her hands reached to the sky again, but this time, he was close enough to hold them. The end felt near and he didn’t want to let her go yet. Or ever. 

_We play pretend_

Julie smiled, intertwining their fingers and closed them to her chest. For a moment, they weren’t dancing. They were holding on to one another, so tightly and so desperately, and hoping that if they kept smiling, kept hugging, it wouldn’t stop. 

_You're more to me_

Her words were a whispered promise and he answered with his own. 

_We create a perfect harmony_

He let go of her hand, a gust of cold separating the two and suddenly Julie was too far gone for him to see her. She kept going, turning and turning and turning, farther and farther into a distance unreachable to him. He shrugged his hands in his pockets, upset their dance was cut short, and turned around. The world began to blur and shift and fade away, morphing back into the familiar, spacious gym.

A sudden ball of lethargy dropped him back on his feet; a _thud_ , like he got hit by a basketball. Luke blinked. Once. Twice. Looking behind him, he saw the group finishing up their routine. Had he missed it all? But didn't they-? Wasn’t he-? 

(Luke swore he felt like he had been right there, next to Julie. But that was impossible, right?) 

Before Julie could catch him, he poofed back to the studio. From outside, he saw the boys jamming on the ouch absentmindedly, goofing off. He wanted the join them, but he still felt… weird. He knew what he felt, what he saw, what he _did_. That dream was… it felt so real. And the music! God, the music! It was the most amazing song he’d ever heard! He had to write it down before it escaped his thoughts! 

Luke busted through the garage doors and consequently startled his band mates. Alex fell off the couch and Reggie dropped his guitar. 

‘Dude!’

‘Can’t talk, gotta go!’

He rushed back out with his songbook and guitar and ran through the garden gate. On one of his little solo adventures, he discovered a hidden nook: a bench surrounded by dahlias. Perhaps the only quiet, safe haven in all of California. When he told Julie about it, she told him it was her mother’s secret reading spot. 

Now, it was the perfect writing spot. Julie was not supposed to find out about this; it would scare her. Letting his book fall open on a blank page, he began to strum his guitar. Luke grinned as the dream came back to him, etched behind his eyes in gold. Within minutes the song was written down. 

This was his sliver of humanity he cherished and held onto. In one universe, in his dreams, in her dreams, in that _one singular moment_ , Julie and him were the same.

And whenever he came back to that dream, he let himself fall deeper and deeper in love with her. But only then. Just then. 

  
  
  


Nothing will ever change that. 


End file.
